Category: Theology

Christians and their worship music. A topic upon which people find little agreement.

For today’s post, I wanted to update a years-old conversation on worship songs and (oftentimes bad) theology. This post (from three-and-a-half years ago) still gets more views during a month than most of my other posts. People definitely care about their songs. Many conversations about worship music focus on style (while an easier conversation to have, that conversation can often produce shallow results because it focuses largely on preference). However, worship songs are conduits of truth. (And the preacher in me knows that people remember songs much more than they remember sermons. Maybe I should sing my sermons.)

In this week’s podcast, Dale and I are joined by two other family members—Evan Godbold and Kevin Bowles (both worship pastors)—to discuss worship songs and theology. You also get to see the new podcast artwork (which is much better than the old podcast artwork, no offense to Dale):

In this episode you’ll hear:

How these two worship pastors evaluate the songs that make it into their worship services

What types of songs these two pastors don’t use because they have confusing and/or bad theology

Some of the confusing lines in certain worship songs and how they’re evaluated

Some of their go-to songs because of the rich theology they carry (spoiler alert: this song, this song, and this song make the cut)

Numerous jokes that only we think are funny

You can listen below and subscribe on iTunes if you never want to miss the party:

Some of the most well-known worship songs today come out of certain movements. Overseas (and now in New York) we have Hillsong; here in the States we have Bethel. Some of you reading go, “Who?” But, believe me, a generation of Christians is not going “Who?” Hillsong could well be the most globally-recognized church “brand” right now (other than Catholicism). They are zealous for the gospel and seeing people know Jesus—a constant source of encouragement and personal challenge to me. I am grateful for what God does through them.

However, at times (and because of the global-ness of the movement), we hear about weird things coming from them. Things such as pastors faking cancer, or perhaps leaders teaching youth stupid things about God—like googling your theology or that angels have farting contests (no, really, watch the video).

These types of things cause me to pause and reflect on whether or not to use songs coming from these movements in our services; but I am also aware that a song doesn’t define a person or a movement (some of you from a different generation may recognize that same thing about Keith Green). So, rather than just think about that alone, I’ve asked my worship pastor friends to give me their thoughts. I put this question to them: How do you approach song selection when songs may come from movements that have unorthodox (or even heretical) teaching? Here are their (brief) thoughts. (I asked for 100-200 words. Fike and Kevin didn’t obey.)

If you haven’t noticed lately, evangelical Christians like to draw boundaries on things and then remind others of when they are or are not within their boundaries. I’m one of them and I do the same. However, we need to be sure we define the boundaries wisely, and that Jesus stays in view.

I mentioned Sunday that I do not always give my stance on issues. That is not to say that I do not have them, but that I do not give them. There is a difference between having a stance and regularly promoting that stance. At times I remain vague on things (even if I may agree with the person who wants to know my stance), and it is not just to be a jerk (I promise!). A few reasons. . .